Blacklisted borrowers urged to discuss with PTPTN

Lenggong – The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) has urged borrowers who have been blacklisted to discuss their loans within seven days to avoid incurring problems before they travel overseas.

PTPTN chairman Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said the discussions would enable both parties to agree on payment for PTPTN loans as well as clearing their names.

“If they cannot pay all of the arrears, PTPTN can restructure the loans to reduce their financial burden. The monthly loan installments can be reduced by extending the repayment period,” he said in a press conference held after officiating the closing ceremony of the Consumerism Programme of the the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, here today.

He was commenting on a statement by Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali on Nov 28 that the department had blacklisted 447,890 PTPTN borrowers for not repaying the loan and that these formed the largest group of people who were prevented from traveling overseas.

The move to blacklist the borrowers through the Immigration Department was not a new one as PTPTN had implemented it since 2008 as a last measure after various client-friendly measures failed.

Shamsul Anuar said it was also implemented on borrowers who had more than six months’ arrears from the date when they should have begun repaying their loans after completing their studies.

“Borrowers whose names remain in the blacklist as stated by the Director-General of Immigration are those who still have not discussed their loans with the PTPTN,”

He added as of Oct 31, as many as 487,091 borrowers (51.3 per cent of the total number of blacklisted people) had met with the PTPTN and started repaying the loans consistently according to their affordability.

“It involves a collection of RM1.54 billion. So far, PTPTN has given RM51.6 billion in loans and needs to get back the money to be given to 200,000 new students at a rate of RM4 billion per year and to the 600,000 existing students.”

PTPTN had set up a branch at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) which operates 24 hours a day including during weekends and public holidays to help borrowers who had problems going overseas.

“Borrowers can contact the staff at klia2 at telephone numbers 017-249 3000/017-276 3000/017-285 3000, as well as the Careline 03-2193 3000 to discuss the matter,” he said. – Bernama